Questions to Ask a Deloitte Interviewer
Questions to ask a Deloitte interviewer when the conversation is handed over to you, in any round and any part of the firm, from audit and tax to consulting. The list opens with the few worth asking anyone, then covers the interviewer's own path, the work itself, staffing and growth, the team and the firm, and how to close. Each has a note on what the answer tells you or what to ask next. The list is independent of Deloitte, and practice differs by country and business, so several notes say to ask how it works on the team in front of you.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Start here
What do you like most about working at Deloitte?
Why ask it
It is the obvious one to ask, so the value is in how specific the answer gets. A project they still talk about or a colleague they name is a real reason. 'The people' with nothing after it is a reflex, so ask for an example.
On your current project, what would someone at my level be doing in a normal week?
Why ask it
Tying it to their live project gets you tasks instead of a job description: whose spreadsheet, which meetings, what is handed in on a Friday. If the week is mostly testing samples, formatting slides or chasing documents, it is better to hear that now than in month three.
How would you describe the culture on your own team, as opposed to the firm's?
Why ask it
The firm's values are on its website and the team's are not. Push for behavior: who speaks in meetings, whether a late message expects a reply that night, how a disagreement with a manager goes.
How does your team decide who gets put on what?
Why ask it
You may be asking the person who makes that call. Whether they name a resourcing team, a skills database or a word with a manager tells you how much of your first year depends on people knowing you personally.
What does someone do in their first year that gets noticed at review time?
Why ask it
It asks for behavior instead of the values on a poster: flagging a problem early, handing in work that needs no second pass, being easy to put on a team. Then ask how that reaches whoever reviews the year, since they may have seen only one of your projects.
What is the hardest part of this job that does not come up in interviews?
Why ask it
The wording gives them permission to name something unflattering: answering to several managers at once, switching between clients, a long stretch of dull work. Whatever they pick, ask how they deal with it themselves.
What would you want me to be comfortable with on day one?
Why ask it
The answer is a study list from someone who knows what the team uses now: a spreadsheet skill, an accounting standard, a way of writing up findings. It also shows you plan to arrive prepared, which is a better last impression than a question about perks.
Their path
How did you end up on this team?
Why ask it
An easy one to answer, and the route is rarely a straight line: a rotation, a manager who asked for them, a project that turned into a home. That makes any later question about moving around the firm concrete.
Why did you choose Deloitte, and what has kept you here?
Why ask it
The two halves often get different answers, and the gap is the interesting part. Someone who joined for the name and stayed for one particular team is describing the firm from the inside. You will be asked your own version of the first half, so notice how an insider puts it.
What did your first year here look like compared with what you do now?
Why ask it
You get the entry-level job described by someone who no longer has to do it. Listen for the tasks they were glad to hand on, because those are the ones waiting for you.
What surprised you in your first six months?
Why ask it
A surprise is the gap between what recruiting said and what the job was, told by someone who walked through it. If theirs was a pleasant one, ask what the unpleasant one was, and the other way round.
Did you join as a graduate or from another employer, and would you pick the same route again?
Why ask it
Graduate intakes usually arrive as a cohort with training built in, while experienced hires are often expected to be useful on a client sooner. Whichever door they used, ask what the other group seems to find easier, then weigh that against the door you are coming through.
Which project taught you the most, and what made it different?
Why ask it
What they count as learning shows in the answer: a demanding client, a manager who let them present, a subject they had to pick up in a week. That is also the kind of project to ask for once you are in.
Who made the biggest difference to your early years here, and how did you find them?
Why ask it
The useful half is the second one. At a large firm the people who help most are often not the ones assigned to you, and hearing whether it came from a project, an office or plain luck tells you where to put your own effort.
The work
What are you working on right now, as much as you can say?
Why ask it
'As much as you can say' matters: client work is confidential, and the phrase shows you know it. They can still give the shape of the problem, and whether they dwell on the analysis, the client or the deadline shows where the effort of the job goes.
What kinds of clients and industries does your team mostly serve?
Why ask it
Two teams with the same name can spend their year at a bank and at a hospital group, and the work feels nothing alike. Sectors are enough, since client names may be confidential. Follow up on which sector is growing for them, because that is often where new joiners land.
What problems are clients bringing to your team most often at the moment?
Why ask it
Managers and partners warm to this one, because it is what they think about all week. A new regulation, a system being replaced or a push to cut costs tells you what the next year of projects is made of, and gives you something to read up on before the next round.
How long do your projects tend to last, and how big are the teams?
Why ask it
Four people for three months means you are visible and stretched early. Forty people on a program that runs for years means a narrow slice and a longer wait to see the whole picture. Ask which of the two a new joiner usually starts on.
How much of the work is client-facing early on, and how much is behind the scenes?
Why ask it
Ask when someone at your level first speaks in a client meeting, and what about. Presenting your own analysis in month two and taking notes for a year can both be called client-facing in a job advert.
Which tools or software would I be using most days?
Why ask it
Named tools are something you can look up before the next round or a start date. If they mention a system the firm built itself, ask how new joiners are taught it, because that one you cannot practise in advance.
How is AI changing what someone at my level does on your team?
Why ask it
First drafts, document review and data checks are the tasks most exposed to it, and they are also the traditional entry-level work, so this is a question about your own job. A good answer names something the team has stopped doing by hand and what juniors do with the time instead.
When you review a junior person's work, what do you most often send back?
Why ask it
You get the list of mistakes to avoid before you have made any: numbers that do not tie, a slide with no point, a question raised too late. How they describe sending it back, with comments, a conversation or a quiet redo, is a preview of being managed by them.
Where does the work actually happen: the office, the client's site or home?
Why ask it
At a client-service firm the client sets part of the answer, so a firm-wide hybrid policy only tells you half. Ask what their current client expects and which days the team chooses to be in the same room.
How much have you traveled for clients over the past year?
Why ask it
Their own calendar is a better answer than a policy. Ask whether it was the same city each time and whether people at your level went too. One person's year is a sample, since travel differs by business, client and country.
What did your busiest stretch this year look like, and what caused it?
Why ask it
A real stretch comes with a cause: a filing deadline, a go-live, a proposal due on a Monday. Whether the peak was predictable matters more than the hours themselves, because a busy season you know about can be planned around. In audit and tax, ask which months it falls in for this team.
Staffing and growth
What training does a new joiner get before the first client project?
Why ask it
Large firms tend to put orientation and classroom time up front and then let staffing take over. Ask how long it is before the first client work and who looks after a new person in between. The program differs by country, business and intake, so ask about the one you would join.
How does someone new get onto the projects they actually want?
Why ask it
Not how the firm fills seats, but what a junior person can do about it. Answers tend to involve telling the right manager, helping on a proposal or being known in one group. Ask what the interviewer did themselves.
Have you ever been between projects, and what did you do with the time?
Why ask it
Consultants call it being on the bench, and a person who has been there can tell you whether it felt like training time or a quiet warning. In audit and tax, where client deadlines tend to set the year, ask what the quiet months are spent on.
How do you give feedback to junior people on your teams?
Why ask it
Listen for when and where: a conversation at the end of each piece of work, a regular check-in, or only the formal review. Feedback that first appears in a year-end write-up arrives too late to act on.
When a junior person makes a mistake on your project, what happens next?
Why ask it
Ask for a real instance, not the principle. At a firm like this a more senior person normally checks work before a client sees it, so the question is less whether errors are caught than whether the story ends with a fix or with a reputation.
Do you have a coach or mentor at the firm, and what do you use them for?
Why ask it
Asking about their own keeps the answer honest: how often they meet, and whether that person speaks for them when their year is reviewed. If your interviewer coaches others, ask what they wish people brought to those meetings.
How long did each promotion take you, and what changed in the job each time?
Why ask it
A personal timeline is more candid than the official ladder. The second half matters more, especially the point where they stopped doing the analysis and started owning a piece of the work. Ask whether their pace was typical, because it varies by business and by country.
Which professional qualifications does the team expect, and how did you fit in the studying?
Why ask it
Depending on the business and the country that could be an accounting qualification, a tax credential or a vendor certification, and support with fees and study leave varies just as much. Ask what happens after a failed sitting, since nobody volunteers that part.
How early do people specialize, and did you choose your area or drift into it?
Why ask it
Some groups keep people general for the first few years and others slot you into an industry or a tool from the start. The word 'drift' tends to get a candid story about how much of a career here is steered and how much is assigned.
Have you moved between teams or service lines here, or watched someone do it?
Why ask it
Internal moves are part of the appeal of a firm with audit, tax, consulting and advisory work under one name. A real example tells you how long the person waited, who had to approve it and whether they kept their level.
Has anyone on your team spent time working abroad with a Deloitte firm in another country?
Why ask it
Deloitte is a network of separate member firms around the world, so a spell abroad is usually a secondment or a transfer between firms, not a change of desk. Ask how the person arranged it, at what level, and whether their job at home was held for them. It differs by firm and by business, so one real example beats the brochure.
Team and firm
How big is the team I would join, and how many people started in the past year?
Why ask it
The ratio tells you whether the group is growing, replacing leavers or both. Many new joiners means company at your level and competition for the same projects. One or two means more attention and more of the routine work.
How does this office or team differ from others you have worked with here?
Why ask it
A firm this size is not one workplace, and someone who has worked with more than one group can compare the hours, the way staffing is done and how approachable the partners are. If they have only known this team, ask what visitors from other offices remark on.
What is your team trying to get better at this year?
Why ask it
A gentler way of asking about weaknesses, and it tends to get a straighter answer. If they name something you have done before, say so in a sentence: it is the most natural opening to sell yourself that this part of the interview offers.
How has the work changed since you started?
Why ask it
The longer they have been at the firm, the better this works. Listen for what clients used to pay for and no longer do, and what took its place. That is the direction your own first years would travel in.
Where is your practice growing, and what is it doing less of?
Why ask it
Save this for a manager or above, who can see the pipeline. Growing areas are where new joiners get staffed and promoted, and shrinking ones are where people wait. With a junior interviewer, ask what kind of projects have been arriving lately.
How well do people at my level get to know the partners?
Why ask it
Partners bring in the work and tend to have a large say in who moves up, so being known by one matters early. Ask for the mechanism: a small team, a proposal, an office event. If the honest answer is not much before manager, better to know now.
What do people on your team get involved in outside client work?
Why ask it
Volunteering days, employee networks, campus recruiting and internal projects all appear on a careers page. An insider knows which of them people have time for. One thing the interviewer does personally is worth more than the full list.
What does Deloitte do differently from the other big firms, from where you sit?
Why ask it
People who have worked at a competitor, or alongside one at a shared client, give the sharpest answers. If the reply is about size and brand, ask what they would miss if they left. Either way you leave with a reason for choosing the firm that did not come from its website.
What kind of person struggles on your teams?
Why ask it
Nobody has a stock reply to this, which is why it works better than asking who succeeds. If the description sounds like you, there is still time to ask how people in that position are supported.
Where have people from your team gone on to, inside the firm and outside it?
Why ask it
Including 'inside the firm' keeps it from sounding like an exit plan. A peer interviewer will usually answer freely, while with a partner it is safer to ask only about internal moves. The destinations show what the experience is worth to other employers.
Closing
If you were interviewing here today, what would you ask that I have not?
Why ask it
It hands the interviewer the floor, and what they pick is often the thing they wish they had known when they joined. Write it down and ask it in the next round.
Which part of my experience seems most useful to your team?
Why ask it
Unlike asking how you did, this is one they can answer comfortably, and it tells you what to lead with in the next round. If they pick something you treated as minor, move it up.
Is there anything in my background you would want me to clarify?
Why ask it
It turns an unspoken doubt into something you can still answer while you are in the room. If they raise one, reply briefly and do not argue: a short, specific answer does more than a long defense.
Would I be joining your team specifically, or a wider group that places people later?
Why ask it
It changes what an offer would mean. If placement comes later, ask when it happens and whether your preferences count. It also explains why some interviewers cannot answer team questions: they may not be your future colleagues.
Who else will I be speaking to, and what do they tend to focus on?
Why ask it
Interviewers usually know their colleagues' habits and may tell you whether the next round is a case, a technical conversation or behavioral questions. If they would rather not say, the recruiter can give you the format.
Would it be all right to email you if a question comes up later?
Why ask it
A yes gives your thank-you note a reason to exist. Keep any follow-up to one question. If they point you to the recruiter instead, use that route, since some teams prefer all contact to go through recruiting.
What are the next steps, and when should I expect to hear?
Why ask it
Ask it last, and you leave with a date you can refer to politely later. If the answer is vague, ask who to follow up with and when, which gives you a name for that email.
The last five minutes of the interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Adjust to who is interviewing you
Someone one or two years ahead of you
Ask about the daily reality: a normal week, the least interesting part of the job, what the training did not cover. They remember the first year clearly and have the least reason to package the answer.
A manager or senior manager
They staff teams and write reviews, so spend the time on feedback, expectations and what a strong first year looks like on their project. They have also watched junior people struggle and can say why.
A partner or director
Ask where the practice is heading, what clients are asking for, and what the team needs that it does not have. These conversations are often short, so bring two questions and not five.
A behavioral or case interviewer you may never see again
Keep it to one or two questions about the work itself and close on next steps. A long list at the end of a case interview eats into the time they need to write you up.
Choosing from a list this long
- Take two from Start here. They work with any interviewer in any part of the firm, and they are the ones to fall back on when the time is cut short.
- Add one from Their path. A question about the interviewer's own experience is the hardest kind to answer from a script.
- Pick the rest by what you still do not know. If nobody has explained staffing or training by the final round, that is your question.
- For audit and tax roles, lean on the questions about the busiest stretch, qualifications and how work is reviewed. For consulting roles, lean on staffing, travel, project length and time between projects.
- Staffing, feedback and the busiest stretch are worth putting to both a junior and a senior interviewer. Compare the two answers afterwards: the place where they differ is often the most useful thing you learn all day.
How to use the time well
- Bring six questions and expect to ask two or three. Interviews run over, and the last one of the day is the likeliest to be cut short.
- Ask something specific to that person. A question they can tell you put to everyone reads as a checklist and not as interest.
- Do not ask anything answered on the careers page or already covered by an earlier interviewer. Say that a colleague explained it and ask a follow-up.
- Write the answer down in front of them. It shows you are weighing the role and not just performing interest.
- Save pay, the hours policy and vacation for the recruiter. Those are the recruiter's to answer, and asking there costs you nothing.
Questions that land badly
- Asking how you did. It puts the interviewer in an awkward position and the answer will be polite, not true.
- Asking about promotion to a level three steps up before you have discussed the first one.
- Anything phrased as a complaint about the process, such as why there are so many rounds.
- Asking a junior interviewer about firm strategy. They will guess, and you will learn nothing.
- Saying you have no questions. It reads as a lack of interest, and any one question from this list is a safer choice than none.